Mounting structure for stationary inductive device



y 28, 1959 w. L. DENHAM 2,897,463

MOUNTING STRUCTURE FOR STATIONARY INDUCTIVEZ DEVICE Filed Jan. 4. 1956bye/71:02"; 144M827? L. Den/2am,

United States Patent MOUNTING STRUCTURE FOR STATIONARY INDUCT IVE DEVICEWilliam L. Denham, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to General 'ElectricCompany, a corporation of New York Application January 4, 1956, SerialNo. 557,272 9 Claims. (Cl. 336-65) This invention relates to stationaryinductive apparatus, and more particularly to improved means forsecuring such apparatus to a base.

In order to secure stationary inductive apparatus to suitable bases, ithas, in the past, generally been necessary to provide a considerablenumber of parts, many of which took considerable tooling and thus werequite expensive. One such arrangement which is representative and widelyused is a bracket structure which is secured about the inductive deviceby threaded members and is then secured to the base member by either thesame threaded members or additional such members. The bracket parts andthe threaded members add considerably to the cost of the inductivedevice, particularly in the smaller categories. Accordingly, it ishighly desirable to provide means for securing inductive devices totheir bases which are simple, involve a minimum number of componentparts, and require little or no tool work on the parts.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a fasteningarrangement for stationary inductive apparatus which will be simple andhave a minimum number of parts of simple configuration.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparentand the invention will be better understood by reference to thefollowing description and the accompanying drawing, and the features ofnovelty which characterize this invention will be pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisspecification.

In one aspect thereof, the invention provides an inductive device whichincludes a substantially rectangular laminated core having acoil-receiving leg with a coil member positioned thereon. A mountingsaddle member is arranged against a laminated face of the coresubstantially perpendicular to the leg, and fastening means are providedto secure the mounting saddle to the core and coil. These means includea metal strap which has a center portion extending parallel to the legacross a face of the core between the coil and the core; the endportions of the strap are bent substantially perpendicular to the firstportion into engagement respectively with the saddle and with the faceof the core opposite the saddle. In this manner, the strap acts tosecure the core to the saddle. In addition, one end portion of the strapmay be formed to lie flat across the'laminated face opposite the saddleso as to tend to clamp the laminations together. By means of thisstructure there is provided a base which may be secured within a casing,as shown in one embodiment of the invention, or which may be directlymounted to the desired support without any casing, as is shown inanother form of the invention. The only additional members needed arethe strap member or members, and the saddle. Each of these may be formeddirectly from sheet metal requiring no operation other than bending andcutting.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a view in perspective, partly broken away,

2,897,463v Patented July 28, 1959 of a first and preferred embodiment ofthe improved construction of this invention;

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of a second embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 3 is a view in perspective of a first embodiment of the strapmeans of the invention;

Figure 4 is a view in perspective of a second embodiment of the strapmeans; and

Figure 5 is a view in perspective of yet another embodiment of the strapmeans.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a transformer core, generallyindicated at 1, made up in the usual manner of a stacked plurality ofthin laminations of magnetic material. Core 1 has a substantiallyrectangular cross sectional configuration, with laminated sides 2 and 3,a laminated top section 4, a laminated bottom section 5, and a front 6and a back 7. The core is formed with a pair of outer legs 8 and 9 and acenter leg 10, with a coil 11 being positioned around the center leg 10between the outer legs 8 and 9. The bottom laminated surface 5 of coremember 1 is seated on the surface of a flat bight portion 12 of aU-shaped saddle member generally indicated at 13, the saddle memberbeing formed of a strip of sheet metal. Saddle member 13 has side legportions 14 and 15 bent down at substantially right angles to the topsection 12 and fits snugly within a base member 16 so that portion 14 isadjacent side 17 of the base and portion 15 is adjacent side 18 of thebase. Leg portions 14 and 15 may then be easily and swiftly secured tothe base member 16 as, for instance, by spot welding as shown at 19.

A pair of strip metal strap members 20 are then passed down through thecenter opening 21 of coil 11 between the coil and faces 6 and 7respectively of the core 1. Each strap 20 is passed down through thecoil opening 21 until its bent over top portion 22 lies in firm abutmentwith the laminated surface 4 of the core 1. As shown at 23 the end ofeach top portion 22 is preferably formed on a bias so that the two strapmembers 20 between them are in abutment with every lamination across thewidth of surface 4. Referring now also to Figure 3, it will be observedthat the other end of strap 20 is formed with a pair of tangs 24. Afterstrap 20 has been positioned as explained above, each tang 24 is bentunder top bight portion 12 of saddle 13. It will, of course, beunderstood that while tangs 24 have been shown, the purpose of thisparticular structure is to permit the end of the strap member 20 to bebent over with relative ease and that the particular provision of thetangs is not in itself a part of invention.

Once the end of each strap 20 has bent over so that it lies underneathtop portion 12 of saddle member 13 in tight contact therewith, the coremember 1 is firmly secured to the saddle member 12 which in turn isarranged so that it is easily mounted within and secured to base member16. In addition, the laminations of which the core member 1 is formedare maintained together by the firm abutment of portions 22 of strapmembers 20. A wedging member 25, which may be formed of any suitablematerial such as fiber board, is preferably provided wedged betweenstrap member 20 and coil 11 in order to provide further rigidity and tomaintain the coil 11 thoroughly stationary on leg 10.

With the structure thus assembled, a cover member 26 may be providedwhich, together with base member 16, completely encloses the core member1 and the coil 11. It is customary then to inject some type ofencapsulating compound which fills the casing; however, this latterfeature forms no part of the present invention and It will be seen fromthe foregoing that by providing three exceedingly simple andeconomically manufactured parts, the two straps 20 and the saddle member1?, a core and coil may be secured together with the laminationsmaintained in rigid relationship and may be secured to a base which issuitable for mounting the induction device within a casing. It willfurther be seen that with the structure provided, the induction devicemay be mounted in an economical manner and without the necessity for arelatively large number of tooled parts as has previously been required.

Referring now to Figure 2 of the drawing, there will be described asecond embodiment of the invention using like numerals for parts whichare the same as in Figure l. The manner of securement of core 1 and coil11 is the same as in the embodiment of Figure 1; thus, each strap 20extends down between coil 11 and one of the faces 6 and 7 of the coreand has tangs 24 bent under top portion 12 of saddle member 13 tomaintain the assembly together in rigid relationship. However, in lieuof being arranged to be mounted in a casing as in Figure l, bent legportions 14 and 15 are provided with flanges 27 and 28 respectivelywhich are bent over substantially at right angles so that, in effect,they are substantially parallel to bight portion 12. Flanges 27 and 28may then be provided with openings 29 so that the inductive device maybe secured as desired. While the embodiment of Figure 2 has been shownwith flanges 27 and 28 bent outwardly away from the device, it will, ofcourse, be understood that they may just as easily be bent inwardlyunderneath portion 12 where such a construction is deemed desirable tosave space and the decreased availability of openings 29 is notobjectionable.

Referring now to Figure 4 of the drawing, there is shown a modified typeof strap wherein, instead of being fiat as in the previous embodiments,the strap has a cross section which includes flat side portions 30 witha bowed center portion 31 joining them. While this does not in any waymodify the action of the strap with respect to holding the core and coilto saddle member 12 or with respect to the effect of the coil in holdingtogether laminations at surface 4, the bowed portion 31 will bearagainst the coil 11 when inserted in openings 21 so that the provisionof an additional wedge 25, as in the embodiments of Figures 1 and 2, nolonger becomes necessary.

Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown yet another modification ofthe strap member wherein, instead of two separate straps, a singlemember 32 is utilized. This member is substantially U-shaped, as shown,and has tangs 33 at each end corresponding to the tangs 24 of strap 20,and a bight portion 34 corresponding in position and function toportions 22 of straps 20. The manner of assembling the strap 32 to thecore 1 and coil 11 is the same in every respect as-was true with respectto the individual straps 20.

It will be seen from the foregoing that each embodiment of thisinvention provides a simple method of securing a coil and core to asaddle member so that the complete inductive device may be simply,economically and easily mounted within a casing or to a base with norequirement for a relatively high number of relatively complex parts ashas generally been true in the past.

While the invention has been explained by describing a particularembodiment thereof, it will be apparent that improvements andmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a mounting saddle arranged against a laminatedside of said core substantially perpendicular to said leg and with itsside edges generally parallel respectively with the opposite faces ofsaid core; and fastening means comprising strap means having portionsextending parallel to said leg respectively across opposite faces ofsaid core between said coil and said core, and portions bentsubstantially perpendicular to said first-named portions into engagementrespectively with the respective side edges of said saddle and with thelaminated side of said core opposite said saddle thereby to secure saidcore to said saddle and to clamp the laminations of said core.

2. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a substantially U-shaped mounting saddle havinga bight section arranged against a laminated side of said coresubstantially perpendicular to said leg and with its side edgesgenerally parallel respectively with the opposite faces of said core;and fastening means comprising metal strap means having portionsextending parallel to said leg respectively across opposite faces ofsaid core between said coil and said core, and portions bentsubstantially perpendicular to said first-named portions into engagementrespectively with the respective side edges of said bight section ofsaid saddle and with the laminated side of said core opposite saidsaddle thereby to secure said core to said saddle and to clamp thelaminations of said core.

3. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a substantially U-shaped mounting saddle havinga bight portion arranged against a laminated side of said coresubstantially perpendicular to said leg and with its side edgesgenerally parallel respectively with the opposite faces of said core;fastening means comprising metal strap means having portions extendingparallel to said leg respectively across opposite faces of said corebetween said coil and said core, and portions bent substantiallyperpendicular to said first-named portions into engagement respectivelywith the respective side edges of said saddle bight portion and with thelaminated side of said core opposite said saddle thereby to secure saidcore to said saddle and to clamp the laminations of said core;

a base member having a pair of portions respectively adjacent the legsof said U-shaped saddle and secured thereto, and a cover member arrangedin engagement with said base member to enclose said core, said coil, andsaid saddle member.

4. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a substantially U-shaped saddle having a bightportion arranged against a laminated side of said core substantiallyperpendicular to said leg and with its side edges generally parallelrespectively with theopposite faces of said core, said U-shaped saddlefurther having a pair of legs substantially at right angles to saidbight portion, each of said legs terminating in a flange arrangedsubstantially at right angles thereto and provided with openings formounting purposes; and fastening means comprising metal strap meanshaving portions extending parallel to said coil-receiving legrespectively across opposite faces of said core between said coil andsaid core, and portions bent substantially perpendicular to saidfirstnamed portions and into engagement with the respective side edgesof said saddle bight portion and with the laminated side of said coreopposite said saddle thereby to secure said core to said saddle and toclamp the laminations of said core.

5. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a mounting saddle arranged against a laminatedside of said core substantially perpendicular to said leg and with itsside edges generally parallel respectively with the opposite faces ofsaid core; and fastening means comprising a pair of metal strapsrespectively having center portions extending parallel to said legacross opposite faces of said core between said coil and said core, andrespectively having two end portions bent substantially perpendicular tosaid center portions into engagement with the respective side edges ofsaid saddle and with the laminated side of said core opposite saidsaddle thereby to secure said core to said saddle and to clamp thelaminations of said core.

6. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a mounting saddle arranged against a laminatedside of said core substantially perpendicular to said leg and with itsside edges generally parallel respectively with the opposite faces ofsaid core; and fastening means comprising a pair of metal strapsrespectively having center portions extending parallel to said legacross opposite faces of said core between said coil and said core, andrespectively having first and second end portions bent substantiallyperpendicular to said center portion into engagement respectively withthe respective side edges of said saddle and with the laminated side ofsaid core opposite said saddle thereby to secure said core to saidsaddle and to clamp the laminations of said core, said second endportions having their ends formed on a bias and being so positionedrelative to each other that the entire width of said face opposite saidsaddle is engaged by one of said end portions.

7. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a mounting saddle arranged against a laminatedside of said core substantially perpendicular to said leg and with itsside edges generally parallel respectively with the opposite faces ofsaid core; and fastening means comprising metal strap means having across-section with fiat edges joined by a bowed portion, said strapmeans having portions extending parallel to said leg respectively acrossopposite faces of said core between said coil and said core and havingportions bent substantially perpendicular to said first-named portionsinto engagement respectively with the respective side edges of saidsaddle and with the laminated side of said core opposite said saddle,thereby to secure said core to said saddle and to clamp the laminationsof said core, said bowed portion of said 6 strap means extending intoengagement with said co thereby to act as a wedge.

8. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a mounting saddle arranged against a laminatedside of said core substantially perpendicular to said leg and with itsside edges generally parallel respectively with the opposite faces ofsaid core; and fastening means comprising a U-shaped metal strap havinga bight portion extending across the laminated side of said coreopposite said saddle, a pair of leg portions respectively extendingparallel to said coil-receiving leg across opposite faces of said corebetween said coil and said core, and portions at the ends of said legportions respectively arranged substantially perpendicular thereto inengagement with the respective side edges of said saddle thereby tosecure said core to said saddle and to clamp the laminations of saidcore.

9. An inductive device comprising a substantially rectangular laminatedcore having a coil-receiving leg formed thereon; a coil memberpositioned on said leg; a substantially U-shaped mounting saddle havinga bight portion arranged against a laminated side of said coresubstantially perpendicular to said leg and with its side edgesgenerally parallel respectively with the opposite faces of said core;fastening means comprising metal strap means having portions extendingparallel to said leg respectively across opposite faces of said corebetween said coil and said core, and portions bent substantiallyperpendicular to said first-named portions into engagement respectivelywith the respective side edges of said saddle bight portion and with thelaminated side of said core opposite said saddle thereby to secure saidcore to said saddle and to clamp laminations of said core; a base memberhaving a bottom portion and a peripheral flange portion; the legs ofsaid U-shaped saddle being respectively secured to the inner surfaces ofopposite sides of said flange member portion; and a cover memberengaging said base mem ber flange portion and enclosing said core, saidcoil, and said saddle member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,133,316 Pikler Mar. 30, 1915 2,351,377 Warsher June 13, 1944 2,431,867Galla Dec. 2, 1947 2,459,023 Gillman Jan. 11, 1949 2,561,855 Gould July24, 1951

